Can’t We Just Try It Out at Home for 14 Days? The original is Stroud Times’ coverage of REP Fitness’s new UK showroom, and it’s worth reading in full.
Most people believe that the 14 day right to cancel is sufficient to allow them to order heavy items of home gym equipment online and return them later if they find they do not suit. Not so, in my opinion and as reported in the Stroud Times.
The St. Modwen Park showroom is filled with REP Fitness equipment, allowing potential customers to try out the various pieces of heavy kit for themselves before deciding whether or not to purchase them. The right to cancel subsequently is a safety net that might never be needed.
The belief that cancellation rights make buying safe
And here’s the reality of buying kit online – Richard Millbank, REP Fitness UK Managing Director, got it spot on with his comment regarding his showroom enabling customers to experience the goods in a manner that cannot be replicated via online purchases.
How the 14 days really run
This is under regulation 30 of the Consumer Contracts Regulations which sets out that the 14 day cancellation period will end 14 days from when the goods were delivered to you. That comes from Consumer Contracts Regulations, regulation 30. However, for heavy items like racks and benches this can take a day or more for delivery, plus another day or so to unload, assemble and level off. As this is not an overnight purchase then the practical useable period is far less than 14 days.
Who pays when bulky kit goes back
According to Which?’s guide to cancelling online orders, if the retailer’s terms and conditions do not state who is responsible for the cost of return postage, then it is the retailer’s responsibility. However, returning a jumper is rarely as problematic as returning a heavy weight bench, which would have to be safely packed by the customer and collected by a courier, so terms and conditions of return need to be read before purchasing online.
What testing in person settles first
What people can test out in person for heavy home gym equipment is the pad width, seat height and stability of a bench when someone is lying on a flat weight bench and lifting weights. Furthermore, the REP Fitness showroom also includes a guided walkthrough of the equipment and even live demonstrations of the equipment being used in realistic situations.
You can also compare different sizes of bench or rack in the space, to work out which will be best for your home gym. If you were to order individual items, you would never have the chance to compare them in this way.
Fit a bench before it is delivered
Millbank explains that his showroom will also enable faster delivery and a greater amount of UK-based support. So the 14 days’ right to cancel becomes an irrelevance that most people will never exercise. But you have to visit the showroom first to find out, and once you’ve placed your order for home delivery it can start to run down within days of the item arriving as a very large pallet. Rep Fitness’s showroom is open to the public from Tuesday to Saturday from 31st January. Visit first and order later.
